My favorite post this month was my Mexico trip! What was yours? I really enjoyed this missions trip to an orphanage in Baja, Mexico and I loved sharing a bit of my experience with you. If you have not read it yet, you can find it here.

I'm leaving on a trip again (you're probably like, "Another trip! Again?") for 10 days. Where I'm going this time though I still have access to a computer (not like in Mexico) so I'll get to figure out if I can do some blogging on it. Most likely, I'll have a blog post in the middle of the time I'm gone just to have a little update but I'm not sure if I can include pictures. So make sure you still stop by. Anyhoo- come back on September 7th for my real blogging! :) Read from me soon!-HappyHands

Friday, August 26, 2011

I baked some Chocolate Whoopies pies today and boy, am I tired! They take awhile to put together...really, they go into our stomachs faster than it takes to make them! :) But, they are worth it. And besides, I'm a chocolate lover and this is what makes my sweet tooth say, "Thank you!!!" hee hee :) The picture above is the whoopie batter in dallops on the baking pan waiting to be put into the oven.

This is a Pile-o-Whoopie-Cookies. Those whoopie cookies are waiting for the rest of their whoopie pals to finish up their baking and are anticipating me to fill them up with the creme! :)

And that, my friend, is my first bite of the whoopie pie batch. Yum! :)

This chocolate whoopie pie recipe came from the book, Whoopie Pies. Remember the last time I made them? :) I made them today for a "Leaving to College" party tonight. They requested I make because the last time I made them (for a Bible Study) they disapeared real quick... :)

Thursday, August 25, 2011

I finsished crocheting Bunny #2 (the one that is on the left) using the crochet pattern from the book, Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli. Remember Bunny #1 that I showed you a few days ago? Well, now she has a twin! :)

Like I said before, they're both gifts for two of my friends that are going away to college. :( Anyhoo, I hope they like them. :)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I love having new friends because they're new people- so they have a new story to tell. So lets get to know each other! Get cozy and lets chat! Tell me a little bit about-

Your craft story (how you started)

What you love about crafting

What's your favorite type of crafting (ex: I like sewing the best because...)

If you have a craft, Christian, or both blog, feel free let me know and leave a link

Something you just want to share

I got started with crafting when I was a young girl with my grandma. She taught me how to sew so I made a lot things, like baby blankets, pajamas, Christmas gifts, and other little things. Recently, I learned how to crochet and embroider. I've been hooked to crafting ever since! What I love about making things is the feeling of "proudness" (is that a word?) once it's finished. I love the feeling of, "Yeah, I made that and I'm proud of it." (Anybody else like that out there?) If I had to choose one that I like the to do from sewing, crochet, and embroidery, I can't pick because I love them all the same! :)

So comment below with a little bit about yourself included. Everyone is invited to sit down and chat with me! Come on and join in! :)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

This is a "Tiny Ami" Bunny I crocheted using the pattern from Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli. Isn't is so cute or what? The ears is what makes me go crazy about it. :)

I'm crocheting it for a friend who's favorite animal is a bunny. I have to make another one for another friend as well. They're both gifts. :) So I finshed Bunny #1 and now I will get started on Bunny #2. :)

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Jellyfish and Sombrero are done! Yay! I love how they both turned out. The Jellyfish is just plain adorable and the sombrero birthday card just makes me to laugh! Is this the most randomest birthday present, or what? hee hee :)

Here's a close up of the sombrero birthday card. Would you want a tutorial on how I put the embroidery piece on the card? Please comment below if you would! :) Also, you can get his sombrero (designed by Wild Olive), here.

Here's a close up of the Jellyfish. Just to look at it makes me squeal! ha ha I think it came out cuter than the first one I made. You can get this crochet pattern (designed by Ana Paula), here.

I couldn't help but take a picture of the jellyfish together. (Right: the b-day gift Left: mine) My friend and I are now Jellyfish buddies! :) hee hee

Jellyfish are such cool creatures that God created. But why did we name them Jelly- fish? What a weird name (but it's so much fun to say)!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Usually I take my time while working on a project, but right now I'm "working quickly" to get these projects done because they're for birthday present.

What I'm making is an embroidererd sombrero and crocheted jellyfish. My friend really loved my jellyfish (which I blogged about a few months ago) and wanted me to make her one. And when I went to Mexico, she wanted me to bring back a sombrero, which I wasn't really able to do that but now I know what they look like (that's for sure)!

I think I'll sew the embroidered sombrero to her birthday card...what do you think? I don't have many ideas on what to do with the sombrero so comment below if you have any suggestions. I'm all ears! :)

Here's where you can get the patterns I'm using for the jellyfish and sombrero...

Monday, August 15, 2011

Wondering where I was all this past week? I was in Baja, Mexico! I thought today that I would share a bit about my missions trip and a lot of pictures to give you some crafty inspiration. :) (The picture above is of the border.)

I couldn't help but take a picture of this statue of Jesus on a hill. Isn't it awesome? :)

Oh, and this is the beach. The best beach I have ever been to--ever! To get to it, we had to cross these sand piles with the green plants growing randomly on top of it (see above). The waves were so calm and smooth. Not like Zuma Beach in California where they crash at the shore line. If I had to go to any beach, I call dibs on this one! :)

Remember when I told you that I was bringing my friendship bracelet supplies? Well, on the first night I was there at the orphanage, we got to babysit some of the kids so the house parents (the people who take care of the kids) could get some "free time". So I brought my supplies that night. The picture above is of a little girl trimming the end of the friendship bracelet she made. It's a bit blurry because I took it "in motion".

Here's the same girl, only on a different night, working on another friendship bracelet. It was so much fun making these bracelets with all the girls! :)

Here some of the bracelets that my friend has. They were all given to her during this past week. :)

One day, we had a "mini carnival" for all the kids at the orphanage in the theater that they had. We put bunting up on the ceiling and set up booths with fun games in each one. There were prizes, balloon animals, and face paint. Above is a picture of one of the balloon animals I made. It's a dog, can you tell? I also helped out with the face paint. I did mainly butterflies (mariposas in Spanish) for the girls and cars (carros in Spanish) for the boys. It was so much fun! :)

Here's a balloon animal poodle that one of my friends made. Isn't it cute?

On the last full day we were there, we got to do a bit of shopping. We went to a park where a lot of women had set up booths full of handmade items. One of them had these cute dolls. I bought one very similar to the one above in Ensenada. See below..

Isn't she cute? :)

In Mexico, they have these tasty chips called, Tostitos. They are amazing! They only sell this certain flavor in Mexico, so if you happen to be down there, make sure you buy a bag of these! :)

They also had these amazing brownies! So what it is, is of course a large bottom layer of brownie and the top layer is a layer of cookie. It's so good! I definetly need to find a recipe on how to make these!

At the park, where they were selling all these handmade goodies, they had these bags. You can find them about anywhere in Mexico. I want to learn how to make them because they are so cute! Here's one that I bought...

Like it? :)

Last but not least, here's my dala horse cross stitch I was telling you that I was going to work on during the long car rides. Well, I did't get much done-- except a leg. On the way there I was in a car with two of my friends so I got caught up in conversation and on the way back down... well, I was looking out the window to see Mexico passing by.

I loved Mexico. I loved the dirt, I loved the homes, I loved the food (you gotta try their tacos!), I loved the language, but most of all I loved the people. I loved serving everyday at the orphanage. Which could mean I was pulling weeds, cleaning bathrooms, sorting nuts, or assembling newsletters. I loved it all.

We would go on child and aldult evangilisms on some days of the week. At the child evangilisim, we would drive around a village while one of the ladies would speak into a mega phone, inviting all the children of the village to meet at a building. When we would arrive at that building, children surrounded the doorway, anticipating for us to arrive. Once they were all inside and seated, the lady would tell a story from the Bible (in Spanish of course) and they would sing songs. At the end, we would serve milk and peanut butter to kids-- a cup of milk, and a spoonful of peanut butter.

At the adult evangilisim, we would go as a big group to one village. Then we would seperate into smaller groups and we would go throughout the village inviting people to meet us at this one spot where we had a large white van\car\not sure what to call it. Once we were done inviting people, we would all head back to that one spot. During that time, we would play with the kids, paint little girl's nails, twist balloons to make animals, and play jump rope. After that, we would watch a video about Jesus and after the video, give out Bibles and pray for the people. It was so nice. :)

This missions trip was so eye-opening for me. I saw how much people hurt and how much they need the love of Jesus. This is an experience I will never forget. :)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Here's an embroidery pattern, 100% designed by me, just for you! This pattern is for and is in honor of the Stitching Angels series over at the Split Stitch. Here's something to celebrate the fun with! :)

Saturday, August 6, 2011

I thought I'd mention today that I'm gone from blogging all next week. I'm leaving for a missions trip! :) (so excited!!) Earlier this week, I made that tutorial for cardboard spools that I'm taking along with me to make friendship bracelets with the kids there (we're using the floss on the spools to make the bracelets. Just to make that clear!). I hope when I get back, I'll show you some pictures of the kid's bracelets they made. If I don't get pictures though, I'm sorry, all I got was some memories! But I'll try to get pictures of all the colorful bracelets we'll make, okay? :)

Anyhoo, it's a long car ride to where I'm going so I thought I'd bring something to do to pass the time. What am I bringing? This dala horse cross stitch piece! (You can get it, here) I think it's a good choice because of all the red that's in it (you probably don't understand what I mean by that. :). You see, that's a lot of red so if I just sat down on my couch and did it all day... well I think I would get bored of doing x after x of red. But what if I took on this car ride? I think it would be easier to do then. :)

While I'm gone, I'm supposed to be featured on the Split Stitch on Friday as a Stitching Angel. So make sure you stop by then to see all of our finished work! (Maybe even get some inspiration...just sayin') I'm also posting a cute freebie there so you just might want to check that out too! I'll post the freebie here when I get back for sure. Okey dokey. :)

Well, goodbye readers! Make sure come back in a week (okay, well not this coming Monday, but next Monday.)!! :)-HappyHands

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Today, I'm over at the Split Stitch as a Stitching Angel. If you remember from a few weeks ago, we shared a bit about ourselves (the introduction of this mini series) and today we are all back to share a bit of progress of the patterns we are stitching up for Sara. I shared a bit of my progress on Sara's Modern Blooms pattern with a few pictures and details of my color, stitch, and transferring choices\methods.

Speaking of apliques, I've always wondered what to do with them. Sure you can sew them onto a pillow or onto a pocket of a purse, but what else? I was thinking of having a week-long series in September\October filled fun projects to do with apliques. Does that sound fun? Please let me know if you're interested in the comments below! Thanks! :)

Monday, August 1, 2011

I've been winding up some embroidery floss to take with me on a missions trip I'm going on next week (oh yeah, beware, I won't be here to blog next week. Just to let you know...). The kids there love to make friendship bracelets so I decided I needed a way to wind them up on a spool instead of just bringing them in their... before you wind them on a spool thing. Anyways, I didn't want the floss to get tangled because when there's knots that means less friendship bracelets and when there's less friendship bracelets there's less fun! I didn't have any spools around for me to wind the floss on so I decided I would have to get creative (hee hee) and think of something that would work. This is what I came up with-- an inexpensive cardboard spool. Now, that's what I call imagination. hee hee :)

So instead of keeping this idea to myself, I thought I would share this wimpy little tutorial on how to make your very own cardboard embroidery floss spool. Okay, here's what you'll need:

Cardboard

Embroidery Floss

Scissors

First, you'll need to cut out a square out of your cardboard. See picture below.

Then, cut two slots at the bottom of the spool towards the center. Don't cut too far up. See picture below as a guide.

Next, slide the end piece of the embroidery floss into one of slots. Now wind around.